Saturday, January 6, 2024

BLOOD FEAST (2016) (Synapse Films 4K UHD Review)

BLOOD FEAST (2016) 

Label: Synapse Films
Region Code: Region-Free 
Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 98 Minutes 39 Seconds 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Stereo Surround with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: Dolby Vision (HDR10) 2160p Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Marcel Walz
Cast: Robert Rusler, Caroline Williams, Sophie Monk

The Godfather of Gore Herschell Gordon Lewis’s seminal gore-classic Blood Feast (1963) ushered in a new era of schlocky blood and guts into the drive-in back in the early 60's, and beginning in the 00's several of Lewis's film were re-made for a contemporary audience, including Two Thousand Maniacs (2005) and The Wizard of Gore (2007), followed by this 2016 remake by German director Marcel Walz (La Petite Morte), who knows a thing or two about gore.

H,G.'s story is brought into the 21st Century with a contemporary stab at the story about a An American Fuad Ramses (Robert Rusler, Weird Science) who lives with s wife Louise (Caroline Williams, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and their college-aged daughter Penny (Sophie Monk, The Hills Run Red) outside of Paris, France where they run a retro American diner. The diner has fallen on hard times and Faud takes on a second job at a museum as an overnight security guard where he is strangely attracted to a statue statue of the seductive goddess, Ishtar. With money tight Fuad stops taking his anti-psychotic medication, and his grip on reality begins to slip, he starts having visions of the Egyptian Goddess Ishtar (Sadie Katz, Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort) in his basement, who tells him he must prepare the titular Blood Feast to honor her so that they will be united for eternity. 

Preparing for the feast requires a bit of murder and cannibalism of Fuad's part, he begins killing his daughters' friends, among them the lovely Annika Strauss (German Angst) and Liliana Nova (Sharknado 5: Global Warming), experimenting with new recipes with exotic meats (wink, wink), and lots of bloody, gore-soaked carnage ensues. I'll be honest, I do respect HGL's original flick for the schlocky gore class-sick that it is, and that tasty organ score, but it's no great shakes and doesn't get a lot of play on my TV screen.  I applaud this remake for taking the original premise and sort of doing it's own thing, I like that Fuad has a wife and daughter this time around, his psychotic snap has a bit of depth to it, but it's not super deep or anything, and Rusler does good work in the role, even if some of the dialogue here is clunky as fuck. A scene that stands out is one of Fuad interacting with a woman (Metisha Schaefer) who's car has broken down in front of the diner, he let's her inside and after some conversation her compliments her on how pretty her eyes are; she responds "I'm glad you like them. Would you like to see them with cum all over my face?", to which Fuad says "No. I think I'd like to rip them out and serve them in a tossed salad", before killing her 'natch. I also could have done without the inclusion of Officer Faith (Roland Freitag, The Curse of Doctor Wolffenstein) as a love interest for Penny, none of those scenes did much for me aside from lengthening the flick. 

In the gore department we get some great Hostel-esque gruesomeness by way of a serrated knife castration, slicing off ass cheeks, the infamous tongue-ripping scenes get updated, a solid throat slashing, and munching on fleshy human bits - especially during the climactic Blood Feast.  

Something that I didn't care much for was how dark a film this is, HFGL's original was quite a colorful and splashy film by comparison (I'm watching it right now, and I give a chef's kiss to Arrow Video for that transfer!), but this sucker is bathed in darkness for much of it's run time, it's very shadowy which lends atmospheric qualities, but also obscure the set design of Fuad's makeshift temple he's assembled in his diner basement and some of the gory scenes, I didn;t care much for that. 

At the end of the day though this is a pretty decent remake of HGL's original, even if it does smack a bit more of Blood Diner at times, which is fine, I prefer it to original. Also noteworthy, HGL make a video conferencing cameo as Professor Lou Herschell, which I loved seeing. 

Audio/Video: The original uncut version of the Blood Feast (2016) arrives on region-free 4K UHD from Synapse Films in 2160p UHD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen with HDR/Dolby Vision WGC color-grading, marking the first time the full strength gory version has has a U.S. release.  This is a solid UHD presentation is sharp and detailed, colors are pretty muted by design but spilled blood and gore benefits from the WGC color-grading and has a nice blush to it. As the flick is quite dark and shadowy I also appreciate the deeper, inkier blacks and superior contrast that the Dolby Vision offers, allowing for excellent shadow detail. 

Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5,1 with optional English subtitles. Dialogue and sounds effects sound great, the score by Klaus Pfreundner (La Petite Mort II) resonates quite nicely, it's a pretty ominous score that compliments the film, there's even a bit of "Dance of the Sugar Plumb Fairies" during the "blood feast" finale. 

Disc extras come by way of archival stuff, we get the 29-min Making of Featurette; a 4-min Chilli Con Curtis “Tonite” – Music Video; the 29-min Blood Feast – Red Carpet Premiere; the 6-min Blood Feast – Scare Cam; the 1-min Indiegogo Promotional Teaser; and a 1-min Theatrical Trailer for the flick. The single-disc 4K UHD arrives in a black eco-case with a Reversible Sleeve of Artwork. This is the first time I've seen a Synapse release get the cheaper eco-case packaging and I must say I am not a fan. We also get what I assume is a first-pressing only Slipcover. Inside there's a 2023 Synapse Films catalog. 

Special Features: 
- Original uncut version of the film available for the first time in the USA
- Indiegogo Promotional Teaser (1:08) 
- Theatrical Trailer (1:29) 
- “Making of” Featurette (28:52) 
- Chilli Con Curtis “Tonite” – Music Video (3:38)
- Blood Feast – Red Carpet Premiere (28:51) 
- Blood Feast – Scare Cam (5:44) 
- Reversible Cover Art
- Slipcover 

At the end of the day this is a decent and quite gory remake of the HGL film, it's removes much of the camp and humor I love about the schlocky classic, going for more of a torture-porn aesthetic, but also not too serious for it's own good. I prefer the schlocky charms of the original a lot more than I do this; though I am willing to bet there's quite a few out there who feel differently about it. Synapse's UHD looks and sounds top-notch, a fun gore-flick for sure, and I appreciate them bringing the full-blooded uncut version to us here in the U.S. for the first time. 

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